Integrated carbon fiber electrodes within hollow polymer microneedles for transdermal electrochemical sensing

In this study, carbon fiber electrodes were incorporated within a hollow microneedle array, which was fabricated using a digital micromirror device-based stereolithography instrument. Cell proliferation on the acrylate-based polymer used in microneedle fabrication was examined with human dermal fibroblasts and neonatal human epidermal keratinocytes. Studies involving full-thickness cadaveric porcine skin and trypan blue dye demonstrated that the hollow microneedles remained intact after puncturing the outermost layer of cadaveric porcine skin. The carbon fibers underwent chemical modification in order to enable detection of hydrogen peroxide and ascorbic acid; electrochemical measurements were demonstrated using integrated electrode-hollow microneedle devices.     

The Reading–Spelling Connection: Developing and Evaluating a Beginning Spelling Intervention for Children at Risk of Reading Disability

Abstract In this article, we describe the development and evaluation of a beginning spelling intervention for young children at risk of reading disability. We first summarize the literature that supports beginning spelling as an ideal method for strategically integrating the beginning reading big ideas of phonemic awareness and alphabetic understanding. We then summarize the literature on effective instructional principles for students at risk of reading disability. Next, we describe how instructional design was applied to the development of an intervention for young children at risk of reading disability, then summarize the findings of an experimental study supporting the effectiveness of this intervention. Finally, we provide selected examples from the spelling intervention to illustrate the findings' translation into instructional practice.     

New Approaches to Staff Recruitment in Higher Education

This paper describes briefly the academic tenure and its legislative terms in the UK, over the last twenty years. The author refers to the current wider situation/trends in the international higher education arena of two categories of academic staff – “established” staff (on permanent contract) and fixed‐term staff – and to how their levels of protection can have an impact on the overall health of the universities and their academic freedom.